The Forgotten Story of A.D. King, Martin Luther King's Brother

ATLANTA, GA -- Black History Month often focuses on the luminaries of the past: inventors, pioneers, and yes, those that led the struggle, like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. But an important figure that has been often overshadowed, some say, is his younger brother, A.D. King.

While MLK got all the headlines and attention, A.D. King was content to work in the background. Make no mistake about it, he was his own man: In the mid-1960s, he struck out on his own to pastor a church in Louisville, Kentucky, but Atlanta remained his true home.

Both A.D. and MLK followed in the footsteps of their father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. Both A.D. and MLK died in their late 30s. And both graduated from Morehouse College.

“A.D. King, if it hadn’t been for Martin and his father, would have been a prominent preacher in this city, because he was a very good preacher,” Atlanta's former Mayor, Andrew Young, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “He was active in all of the movements, but he was Martin’s baby brother. Only the Kennedys have been able to pull off a dynasty because they had enough money to do it.”

The King brothers shared more similarities: Both were active in the civil rights movement. And both their deaths are shrouded in mystery.

A year and a half after MLK was cut down by a bullet at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, his brother, in a conversation overhead by his daughter Alveda, said: “They killed my brother. I’m gonna find out who did it,” the Seattle Times reports.

The next morning he was dead, purportedly drowned in the bottom of the family's swimming pool. Many feel the death was suspicious.

“He never recovered, because he felt it was his duty to protect his brother,” A.D.’s widow, Naomi King, was quoted as saying.

The family's old stomping grounds are a who's who of Old Fourth Ward monuments. Ebenezer Baptist Church. The King homestead on Auburn Avenue.

While A.D. King's death was never investigated as a murder, some members of his family strongly believe he was killed.

“Absolutely, he was murdered,” Naomi King told the Times. “He was an excellent swimmer. There was no water in his lungs. He was in the fetal position. He had a bruised forehead. Rings around his neck. And he was in his underwear. He was murdered.”

The truth may never be known, but what is certain is that A.D. King played a vital role in the civil rights movement, that of lieutenant to his older brother, and a trusted soldier in the struggle for equality.

Image via Wikimedia / Fair Use